HEROES: Who Is Scott Redmond?
Scott Redmond: Well I am a twenty-two year old college student. I was born and raised in Sacramento, CA and that is where I am still to this day. I’m currently working towards my BA in English at California State University of Sacramento. I’m a pretty down to earth guy. I like the simple things in life, but also love a good adventure or party. I love to read, write, play video games, party, play poker, and just have fun. Texas Hold ‘Em is my guilty obsession along with comics. I’ve been writing fan fiction for over two years now, and it’s a great passion so far.
H: What's Your Background?
SR: I had a pretty simple upbringing. I’m a real American mutt; German, Dutch, French, African, and bit Native American all wrapped up in one tidy little package. I’ve lived in Sacramento all my life, cow town it may be called, and have enjoyed every moment. My parents are still married and both worked most of my life but still provided what they could even when money was short. All in all, I have had a great life.
H: Where Do You Live?
SR: Sacramento California.
H: When Did You Start Writing And How Long Have You Been Writing?
SR: I have been writing since pretty much since shortly after I learned how to write. I have always loved to write stories or whatever I could come up with. I have some of my earliest attempts at books still in my closet. I started working on my first idea for a novel in 9th grade even though it never went anywhere, it was still fun. I have been writing fan fiction for about two years now, ever since I turned in my first story for Uncannyxmen.net/The House of Ideas.net. And it’s a decision I have not ever regretted.
H: What Are Your Influences?
SR: A lot of my influences come from stuff I see in my day-to-day life. I can watch a TV show or movie and bam; I got a new idea forming in my head. Comic books have also of course inspired me sometimes to do my stories. Claremont’s early run of Uncanny is one of the biggest influences in how I go about writing the X-Men to this day. I love to read pretty much whatever I can get my hands on, so that helps with inspiration as well. Reading is a great tool to get the brain cells in the creative center of the brain moving. Real life experiences are also a big influence. Many of my fanfic issues are easy to write because the situation the character ends up in is something I myself can easily identify with from my life, and that makes it so much easier to actually write it happening.
H: What Is Your Philosophy of Writing?
SR: Write a lot, whenever possible, no matter what comes out. Just like anything we do in life, writing can only get better if we practice at it and keep the creative juices flowing. Sometimes even in class I’ll just start writing a scene for fanfic or just something that interests me just to keep in practice for all the writing I do. I try to write something each day; even if what I write is pure crap at least I got something down. Not every thing written is going to be the next Watchmen or Shakespeare play. If I at least got something down on the paper I’ve happy.
H: You’ve written an amazing body of work for The House Of Ideas.net. For those of us not familiar with that site what can you tell us about it?
SR: The House of Ideas spun out of a site called Uncannyx-men.net which is an authority on all things mutant and mutant related. Issue summaries, character spotlights, glossaries, and all kinds of great information. They had a small fan fiction section there that eventually began to grow bigger and bigger. This summer around the time of UXN’s 7th anniversary the fan fiction section hit one thousand issues. To celebrate this the administrators of UXN created a spin off site called The House of Ideas for all things fan fiction. All our work was transferred over and we have more options and more control over things now. Good things come to those who wait.
H: How long have you been writing for them?
SR: I started writing for UXN/THOI Thanksgiving of 2005. I started with a title called Agency X that was inspired by Peter David’s new run of X-Factor. The universe within the site I wrote for was called All Star X and was basically a restart version of all things X-Men and some things Marvel.
H: How did you find your way to Marvel Omega?
SR: I don’t exactly remember how I came to find Marvel Omega, but I had decided to start expanding my view of the fan fiction community and came across the site. I instantly fell in love with some of the titles and just the way things are so different and better in this bigger community then the small pong of THOI. I decided to go out on a limb and pitch to the site and get my vision of a title out there. I have never once regretted that decision as it has let me meet some fantastic new people and start working my way into the large community.
H: You’re taking a second crack at CHAMPIONS. What happened the first time?
SR: A lot of things in life just began piling up at once, and after issue #1 of the first Champions was posted I never got around to issue 2. I just got so stuck in how to write the issue, but wasn’t sure who or what to ask of others to find a way past it. So instead the issue sat for almost a year being really untouched, while I continued to turn in stuff for the other universes I work for.
H: What’s going to be different this time around? What have you learned from the mistakes you made the first time?
SR: I have learned to better manage my time, prioritize my writing, and to get stuff done and turned in. This time around I plan to stick to my guns and get the title out on time, no matter what should happen. I plan to make sure that the title stays fresh and interesting to readers, so that it hopefully makes an impact and stays around a long time. But the biggest thing I’m going to make sure happens is that I have fun while writing it. Cause if you’re not having fun then what is the point?
H: You’re also going to be writing NOVA for Marvel Omega. Nova’s a big favorite in these parts. Do you find his popularity intimidating?
SR: I find the popularity a bit intimidating to be honest. Nova has a big following and I hope I can live up to what the fans want to see, as well as bring new angles that people won’t see coming but will still appreciate. Nova’s newest series from Marvel just shows how popular he really is and I love that series a lot, thus the reason I have pitched this title. My biggest concern is that I don’t do a disservice to the character, as it would disappoint me as well as a big fan. I see Nova going very far, as there is so many different things that can happen. Fantastic Four has always been the title of the fantastic and amazing imaginary events and creatures, but with a Nova in space title there are so many possibilities that the sky, or space in this case, is the limit.
H: You were good enough to let me look at your plots for NOVA in preparation for this interview and I while I was impressed by your detail I have a question I’ve been dying to ask writers who plan out story arcs: is it really necessary to have such detailed story arcs?
SR: I don’t think it’s really necessary to have such detailed story arc plans. For some of my fics all I have planned out is the title of the arc, and then I go from there once I start writing. In other cases I plan things out. In the case of Nova I actually have the arcs for 36 issues (three years) all planned out already. It just depends on the title I guess. I was so in love with my Nova ideas that I couldn’t stop at the 12-issue plot breakdown needed for the MO pitch, and just kept going.
For some titles I find it so much easier to write if I have a clear laid out plan, ‘cause that keeps me focused. Other times it impedes the creativity, ‘cause it leaves no room for any real changes sometimes. I could have gotten by with a shorter description of the arcs but I just had to get all of the ideas out and down before they started to slip from my brain and I lost them for good.
H: What makes you want to be a Writer?
SR: Writing is just one of my passions. It centers me and allows me to express how I feel or how I see things. It also allows me to create and have free reign over a bunch or a few characters that I can shape in whatever image I want. Writing has just always been something that has been in my blood, since the earliest days. I can’t imagine a world where I couldn’t write, cause it would probably kill me.
H: Do You Have Any Other Writing Ambitions?
SR: Like some fan fiction writers and comic fans, I aspire to one day be writing actual comics for one of the companies out there. I also am working on a few novel ideas that I plan to work on and hopefully get published very soon. I plan to be an English teacher, so writing will really help me with that career.
H: Hobbies? Other Interests?
SR: I love video games, I mean LOVE them. Also any good old novel can keep me entertained for hours on end. Comic collecting of course is one of my biggest and most expensive hobbies. I am a big lover of the outdoors and love nothing more than camping in the beautifully relaxing mountains. Watching sports, playing pool, playing sports, playing Texas Hold ‘Em (whether for real or online). Cooking is my other real passion that helps center me as well. After a long day of work coming home to cook and then write gets me calmer faster than a tranquilizer. Movies, watching and critiquing them, is a love that I inherited from my father who I share a great wealth of film knowledge with.
H: What's A Typical Day In The Life Of Scott Redmond like?
SR: Nowadays it’s mostly just going to work or school all week and then coming home to plop down at my laptop in my bachelor pad. A typical day will find me checking out all fan fiction news I missed over the day or week. Or posting up at the X-Men RPG that I recently joined. A great day is one where I am not too tired and am able to actually to write something even if just a few pages.
H: Here's Your Chance To Give Somebody A Shootout. Go.
SR: I would like to thank Dino Pollard and Ryan Krupenski at Marvel Omega for giving me both my chances at Marvel Omega and really helping me in whatever way they can to make the titles so much better. I asked for a second chance to prove myself, and they gave it to me so I will not let them down this time.
Also thanks to David Golightly and Daniel Ingram for helping me out with pitches and other fan fiction related things. The help and brainstorming is greatly appreciated.
Thanks to Hunter Lambright, one of my good friends from THOI, for encouraging me to try new things and inspiring me in this bigger fan fiction community. He inspired me with a great pitch that I just have to throw together this weekend for David and the Marvel Knights Group.
Also thanks to Derrick Ferguson for setting up this interview and approaching me about it.
And last but not least thanks to Stan Lee and all the rest that created these characters I love so much so that I can play in their sandbox.
H: What Else Should We Know About Scott Redmond?
SR: Umm…he eats the souls of cute puppies. I’m mean. Yeah, not much else to be said about me really. I’m always up for a challenge so if anybody out there has some bait to dangle in front of me, I’m not afraid to take it. Even if I have to take candy from strangers, I love new and exciting things. But other than that, I’m glad to be part of this community and I hope you all enjoy what I got coming your way this fall. Thanks.